Outdoors
by Rumon Gray
Summary: Third prompt for #cheeruptheskeleton over on Tumblr, which was "The Great Outdoors." I had to give Monster Kid a name, and I defaulted, but it works I guess.


"All right, students, keep in line, and stay together, won't you?" Toriel requested, stepping off the bus after it emptied.

It was the first day of spring, officially anyway. The weather had been nice for at least a month now, just enough time for Toriel to request a field trip for her class. Several monster children were here, intermingled with human children, Frisk included. They stayed close to the teacher for obvious reasons.

Another yellow bus pulled onto the lot, coming to a stop and opening its door with a hiss. More students, human and monster alike, poured out of the bus, including one particularly yellow monster, wearing a striped shirt.

"Yoooooo!" he called, running up to Frisk before the two bonked foreheads. It was really the only way, since without arms, the monster kid didn't exactly have the means to give a high-five.

After the students had left the bus, one small skeleton, clad in blue exited, followed by an extremely excited older brother, still in "costume."

"'sup, tori," Sans waved.

"Oh, Sans, Papyrus, thank you so much for being chaperones! I hope it is not too much trouble."

"WORRY NOT, LADY ASGORE! WE WOULDN'T DREAM OF MISSING THIS OCCASION! A TIME FOR LEARNING, AND SOLVING THE PUZZLES OF NATURE!"

Well, at least Papyrus was excited. That in itself was enough for Sans, knowing that Papyrus wouldn't go if his brother couldn't attend as well. Of course, there was something else making Sans particularly happy today.

The monster kid ran over to Papyrus as the skeleton began to make his classic pose.

"NYEH-HEH-HEH!"

"Nyeh-heh-heh!"

Sans still wasn't quite used to it, his brother actually having a fan. It was uplifting in a lot of ways, since he'd always believed his brother to be the best person he'd ever known. It was rather foreign for him to see somebody else have the same feelings he did.

It smelled like fresh air and admiration.

"gettin' pretty good at that, monster kid," Sans nodded.

"Heh, thanks! Although my name's not 'monster kid.' It's just 'Kid.'"

"right, sorry, i was just...kidding," Sans grinned.

"OH MY GOD!"

"Oh my god!"

Papyrus and Kid looked at each other before bursting into laughter. Sans kept on smiling, as Toriel attempted to maintain her composure as the leader of this little expedition.

"All right, students, welcome to the Ebott Memorial Trail! Our goal is about five miles along the trail where we will take a break for lunch before heading back here. Remember, I want you each to find and document at least five examples of 'flora' and 'fauna' as we walk along."

Sans and Papyrus took their positions next to Toriel as the students gathered up.

"We also have two guest chaperones today, and I would have you listen to them, all right? This is Sans, and this here is-"

"THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" He posed again, his unexpected audience chuckling.

"Ahem, right," Toriel smiled, "Now we also have positions for two students to assist the chaperones as we walk along the trail. Who would like to go with Papyrus?"

"Yooooooooooooo!" Kid shouted, jumping madly to be seen.

"All right, Kid, you and Papyrus will stay up in front and set the pace. Try to keep it...gentle, will you not?"

Papyrus and Kid both gave a "royal guard" salute. "YES MA'AM!" They both affirmed.

"Excellent. Sans, you will bring up the rear with one of the children, is that okay?"

"uh, sure, but i don't really need any help with..."

Frisk grabbed Sans' arm, looking up at them with their face glowing.

"well, i guess i can't say no to that face. you sure you wanna be stuck all the way at the end?"

Frisk nodded happily.

"Wonderful! I will take my place near the middle, and if anybody has any questions, do be sure to either wait for me or call out so I can wait for you. Are we all prepared?"

"Yes ma'am!" Came the reply, echoing Papyrus call from earlier.

The tallest skeleton in the group, along with his second biggest fan, immediately began to march down the trail, conjuring a bone and using it almost like a baton to keep everybody in step. It didn't really work on most of the children, but that didn't exactly stop him from trying anyway. Most of the students stayed close to Toriel, with a few stragglers taking a moment to start before Sans and Frisk were on their way as well.

"so why'd you wanna stay with me, anyway?"

"I dunno," Frisk shrugged, "I just like hangin' out with you?"

Sans chuckled. "tryin' to keep me from using a shortcut?"

"No!" Frisk snickered.

Sans leaned in closer to whisper. "did you _want_ me to use a shortcut so we could beat everybody to the spot?"

"Ha ha, no! I just wanted to walk with you!"

Sans placed his hands back into his pockets. "well it was worth a shot."

The trail began to curve, following a small stream that babbled next to it. Frisk heard the water running over the rocks, started to veer off to investigate it.

"hey, frisk, wait!"

But the human was gone. Sans sighed and gave in to his human friend's adventurous spirit, following them into the brush. Coming out the other side, he found Frisk sitting at the water's edge, staring at it intently.

"what'd ya find?"

"Nothing, just..." Frisk looked upstream.

Above the stream, up above the underbrush, and over the tops of the breeze-filled trees, loomed the tallest landmark of the area. Mount Ebott, former home of every monster on Planet Earth, loomed over everybody and everything like a monument, a memorial, in its own way, to old ways come and gone. A reminder of futures not yet set in stone.

"Do you think...this water came from Snowdin?"

"hmm..." Sans pondered, kicking off one of his slippers. He dipped his foot into the water, and a shocking look overcame his face as he shivered. "w-well...it's d-definitely _cold_ enough!"

Frisk dipped their hand into the water and grimaced. "Yeah...it's _freezing!"_

"well, not technically, it's too warm to freeze."

"You know what I meant!"

"yep," he grinned.

Sans replaced the slipper as Frisk dried their hand on their shirt, the two falling into silence for a moment.

"why'd you think it was from snowdin?"

"I dunno. It...smelled right. I have so many memories of that place. Like when Papyrus tried to make me walk that electricity maze and got shocked? I tried really hard not to laugh."

"hah, yeah, that was great. remember my puzzle?"

"You mean...the word search?"

"okay, technically it wasn't _my_ puzzle."

"Ha ha...remember when you took me to Grillbys?"

"or when you treated me to dinner at the restaurant?"

"I...didn't pay anybody for that."

"s'ok, i figured you were good for it later, so i took care of it," Sans winked.

"Or remember when..."

The two went on for at least half an hour, recounting all the times they'd shared while in the Underground. In the back of their minds, the bad times, while still present, didn't hold a candle to anything they were talking about now. Memories filled the air, telling tales of hot dog stacks, telescope fees, and fried snow.

The sound of leaves rustling behind them brought all of that to a stop, before a gentle voice cleared their throat.

"If I did not know any better, I would say you have more memories with Frisk than even I do, Sans," Toriel said, stepping out of the brush.

"t-tori! sorry, we decided to take a detour."

"It is all right, I know how adventurous Frisk can be when they are determined. Frisk, go ahead and head back to the trail, will you not?"

Frisk nodded and ducked through toward the trail, leaving the two alone with their thoughts.

"y'know..." Sans started, hesitantly, "...not all of my memories with frisk are...happy."

"I see."

"actually, some of them are...kinda heartbreaking."

"But...you are happy with Frisk now, correct?"

"huh? well, yeah, sure, i mean..."

Toriel put her hand on his shoulder. "Sans, I've been around a long time. And if I've learned anything, it's that memories, even bad ones, can be happy ones if you want them to be. If you're still with them now, and smiling, then even those bad memories can serve to show you just how far you've come. Do you understand?"

"i...guess so, yeah," he began to blush. Well...as much as a skeleton _could_ , anyway.

"Besides. Despite everything that might have happened, I do know that you kept your promise to me. To Frisk, I suppose. That means a lot, considering you told me you always hated making promises."

"s'too much work!" he shrugged.

"Of course," Toriel nodded, before kneeling down to give Sans a kiss on the top of his skull. "but I'm still glad you did."

The skeleton froze dead in his tracks.

"y-yeah, i'm glad too."

It smelled like smiles and sunshine.


End file.
